This is the first book dedicated to the subject of the 8th
(Service) Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment during the First World
War - and this particular Kitchener battalion has been a neglected
topic of study; however, there is a rich mine of information to be
found - including the methods of recruitment; the initial training
(or lack of it); the lack and late arrival of equipment; and the
actual fighting experience of the 8th Lincolns at Loos.
Importantly, this volume challenges the well-established British
historiography about the general reserves and their performance at
Loos, with the author arguing that the reserves, rather than being
routed, stood, fought and died at Loos in 1915. Following extensive
archival research, the author has also built up a picture of the
officers, which range from the very young junior second lieutenants
straight out of university - the Officer Training Corps (OTC) - to
a man who had seen 25 years' army service, but had never
experienced a shot fired in anger until Loos. The men who
constituted the ordinary soldiers were commonly the 'salt of the
earth' - drawn from the ranks of the industrial and agricultural
labouring classes. There is no great captain amongst them, but
their grit and determination to the bitter end is an example of
soldierly conduct in the best traditions of the British Army.
British historiography hasn't been kind to the reserves who fought
at Loos - claiming, at worst: 'They bolted!' and, at best, they
were tired out by a forced march... hungry and wet through. The
reality is at least one company stood and fought until almost
completely out of ammunition, with all their officers dead or
seriously wounded; surrounded by Germans with machine guns, the
surviving Lincolns were captured. The experience of the 8th
Lincolns is placed in the wider context, with the British
Expeditionary Force's (BEF) learning process during 1915 and the
aftermath of the accusations which led to the dismissal of Sir John
French as Commander-in-Chief of the BEF and Sir Douglas Haig's
appointment as the Chief. This book will appeal on a number of
levels: it documents the life of an otherwise hitherto unknown
Kitchener battalion; it challenges orthodox historiography; and it
firmly shows that rather than running away, the 8th Lincolns (and,
more generally, the reserves) behaved, by and large, with courage
and resolution.
General
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